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A korao no New Zealand

by: Kendall, Thomas (1778–1832)

Publication date: 1815

Usage: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Topics: linguistics, language, te reo Māori, missionary, Kendall, Marsden

Collection: opensource

Language: Maori

An elementary primer comprising alphabetical and numbers (p. [1]-3), syllables in 12 numbered exercises (p. 4-7), word lists and sentences (exercises [13]-52, p. 7-39), alphabetical dictionary (p. 40-51), parts of speech (p. 52-53) and a few fragments of syntax (p. 54). Text from exercise [13] to end is in parallel Maori and English.

A korao no New Zealand was the first book printed in te reo Māori. It was written by Thomas Kendall, who learned te reo from Tuai of Ngāre Raumati when both were in Sydney. Kendall was sent to Samuel Marsden, Anglican Chaplain at Parramatta, to be the school teacher at the first Church Missionary Society mission in New Zealand.

The only extant copy of the book is held by Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira. See https://www.aucklandmuseum.com/collections-research/collections/topics/a-korao-no-new-zealand for more information. A Korao is listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World New Zealand 2014 Register.